|Speaker||Talk Date||Talk Series|
|Richard Gaitskell (Brown University)||14 February 2014||Institute of Astronomy Galaxies Discussion Group|
Particle dark matter is thought to be the overwhelming majority of the matter in the Universe. Its gravitational contribution overwhelms that from the ordinary matter that we, the earth and the stars, are composed of. However, direct evidence for the existence of particle dark matter remains controversial.
I will discuss the LUX Experiment which has just reported world-leading results in the search for WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). LUX is a 350 kg liquid Xe time projection chamber, and is operating underground at the Sanford Lab, Homestake, SD.
I will also review a future noble liquid experiment. The 7 tonne liquid Xe LZ (LUX-ZEPLIN) which is proposed to be constructed at Sanford Lab in 2016.